New York City's homicides on track to be less than 300 in 'remarkable' trend this year, officials say

New York City is close to recording less than 300 homicides in 2025, a level not seen since 2018, in what would be the lowest number of annual killings during Mayor Eric Adams’ four-year tenure.

NYPD data released Monday showed that the current level of homicides — now 287 through Sunday — was impacted by 12 days in which the city experienced no killings, a streak that tied the previous low reached in 2015. The streak ended Sunday evening with a shooting death of a man in a Bronx public housing area.

In a statement, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch applauded the effort by officers in driving down shootings and homicides, crediting the use of special enforcement zones set up in high crime areas in the five boroughs. The result, said Tisch, has been the lowest number of shootings and murders in the last 11 months since records started to be kept in 1994.

"Right strategy, great execution. That is how we set record after record," Tisch said.

During Adams' administration, homicides never dipped below 382 killings recorded in 2024. While homicides did drop to 295 in 2018 under Mayor Bill DeBlasio, the number shot up to as high as 488 in 2021, records showed. The highest number of killings recorded was 2,245 in 1990, around the height of the crack scourge, according to NYPD data.

Former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton said the downward homicide trend is a result of 30-plus years of focus through CompStat, the department's statistical record-keeping system that analyzes crime and spots trends, as well as initiatives started by Tisch. He said shootings are also reviewed jointly by federal and city officials.

"In a city of 8.5 million people, it is remarkable," Bratton said of the low homicide number.

One NYPD official who didn’t want to be named said the department during the year had set up special zones in summer and fall, as well as holiday periods, to place patrol officers in high crime areas. The result, along with gang takedown operations, has been to drive down shootings, said the official.

Chris Herrmann, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal justice, said the big drop for New York homicides reflects a national trend.

The country has seen the lowest rate of homicides and the largest decrease nationally, said Herrmann, which he believed has been influenced in part by the end of the COVID pandemic and higher employment.

The end of year homicide number may have also been impacted by colder weather, which according to some experienced investigators has historically had driven violence down.

Richard Aborn, head of the nonprofit New York Citizens Crime Commission, said that the lower homicide numbers reflect the impact of enforcement initiatives involving focused policing activity and prevention initiatives such as job, housing and education programs.

But law enforcement veterans note that while the end of the year can bring a slower pace for serious crime, things can also unexpectedly go in the opposite direction.

"If they get below 300 [homicides] that would be remarkable," said Aborn.

PBA President Patrick Hendry said: "New York City police officers are doing a tremendous job keeping our neighborhoods safe, but it’s coming at a cost. The stepped-up deployments to combat violent crime have dramatically increased police officers’ workload and negatively impacted their quality of life."

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.